


Diamonds are Forever

by ZoisiteMoon



Series: The Gemstone Saga [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Ancient Greece, Epic Battles, Gen, Gods and Goddesses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10085951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoisiteMoon/pseuds/ZoisiteMoon
Summary: Ever wondered how Rose Quartz became a legend? Well, now you can read all about it here!





	1. Chapter 1

Rose Quartz sat atop the roof of a Neopalatial palace while she watched the Gem colony in the Minoan city of Malia thrive before her very eyes. It had been quite some time since she'd lost her husband/father figure Nephrite and a bit more since she last spoke with her real father; it was actually quite depressing just thinking about them, to say the least. There came days when they were all she could think about, and sometimes those days were not the best.

Today was not that different in all honesty. The memory of Nephrite's death was still fresh in her mind even though only a few millenia had gone by, and yet it refused to go away. It was all coming back to her now: the shattering gem, the way he convulsed while the stampeding aurochs trampled him repeatedly, his screams of agony as the cattle crushed every part of his body, and the feeling of helplessness he surely must've felt while he was dying. She had been so young then, but now she was all grown up and joined by several old and new friends of her own.

As for Zoisite, he'd said something about Earth being an irredeemable, inhospitable world for the colonists before leaving. In fact, it seemed like yesterday when he threw a hissy fit over the decision to settle on Earth. She couldn't understand why he'd do such a thing except that it had something to do with the dominant indigenous species (humans, as they'd called themselves) attacking him and then torturing him until he retreated into his gems.

"Hey, Rose!" someone yelled from behind her.

The pink-haired Gem turned around to see the homely human priestess Eudoxia on the ground. "Oh hello, Eudoxia!" she called out to her. "What are you doing here?"

Eudoxia innocently rolled her eyes while shrugging at the same time. "Well," the wavy-haired brunette started to gather her thoughts. "I just thought I'd drop by to tell you that later tonight, we're going to sacrifice a bull for the Great and Powerful Goddess. Would you and your friends care to join?"

While Rose found it nice that she was given an opportunity to observe more of the humans' religious practices, she couldn't help but cringe at the thought of the bull having to be killed in order to appease their goddess. Still, maybe there would be more to it than that.

"Of course!" she replied cheerfully. "I'd love to see how you're going to do it."

"Great!" Eudoxia exclaimed. "We'll meet near Kitane's villa. Tell your comrades about this. Farewell."

With that said, the priestess walked off with a smile. Right after, a bright sea blue Gem called Khaidarkanite ran up from behind and pounced on the roof, startling Rose practically to death.

"Good God, Kai!" Rose squealed. "Was that really necessary?"

Khaidarkanite's skin was radiating a brighter shade of Carribean blue than usual, but her rose-hued friend didn't seem to mind.

"I just stopped by to say hi," she said while shrugging off the question. "What's the big deal?"

"Priestess Eudoxia says there's going to be a bull sacrifice later. She'd like us to come if it's not a bother to you."

Khaidarkanite was too busy fidgeting with the small, thick braid in front on her face. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Eudoxia wants us to worship her goddess tonight."

"You talking about that broad that just passed me by? Sorry, not interested."

"Alright then." Rose sighed dejectedly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Gotcha." Khaidarkanite winked at this and then jumped off.

*************************

 **Later that night...**  
On her way to the elderly Kitane's villa, Rose and her motley crue of friends seemed every bit as eager as the humans were; well, maybe except for Pearl who could actually care less about the sacrifice. However, the pink-haired Gem also had a recurring gut feeling that something terrible was going to happen at the same time. She was not about to reveal it, though, lest she worry the others.

"So Rose, is there gonna be lots of blood when they cut the bull open?" Amethyst asked anxiously. "Better yet, will we get to see lots of organs falling out or...?"

"Ugh, cut that out!" Pearl interrupted before gagging. "I don't even want to think about it. But the ritual should be interesting besides that."

"Aw, you're no fun!" the violet Gem whined. "Tanzanite, what do you think will happen?"

The graceful, blue-colored Gem Tanzanite thought for a moment before answering, "They'll just kill the bull and then move on to the worship, from what I could gather last week."

"I'll take your word on that," Garnet added. "I've never been to a sacrifice before, let alone one where a bull was involved."

"You haven't?" Jade asked incredulously. Then she remembered. "Oh, that's right. You're from a pacifist country, aren't you?"

"Jade, please let's not do that." Garnet warned. "There's a reason my home nation hates going to war with others."

By the time they made it to their destination, several of the humans were already gathered around a piebald black-and-white cattle/aurochs hybrid with small, curved horns and a large, stocky build. One of the humans, Kitane, was inspecting the animal with keen eyes and doing a damn good job of it.

"Well?" asked one of the humans, a forty-year-old male named Bansabira, beside her.

"He appears healthy..." Kitane muttered. "...and he seems very calm, almost as if he knows what's going to happen to him."

But before she could go any further, the steer suddenly bellowed out of distress and ran out the nearest opening, which greatly confused the humans as well as the Gems. Not long after, the wall to the humans' right exploded and revealed an oddly sleek feminine figure with spiked blonde hair and illuminating crystal-white eyes.

"A goddess!" Bansabira gasped. "Quick, we must find that bull and appease her before-!"

The enigmatic figure struck a lightning bolt at his head and blew it up, killing him within seconds. The other humans were fixed dead on their tracks, totally afraid of what would happen next, but Rose was not about to take this lying down. Without hesitating, she summoned her shield and the rest followed suit.

"If it's a fight you want, a fight you'll get!" the figure chortled. "Come at me!"

Pearl struck first and threw her spear straight at the figure's head, but sadly missed. She made up for that, however, by doing a somersault from right behind and kicking her across the back. The figure did not even flinch at this.

"Why didn't it hurt her?" Pearl asked in confusion.

"I don't know..." Tanzanite answered, just as confused. "But we need to get her away from these humans."

So they fought for hours and hours until it was so early in the morning that the moon could still be found in the sky. When all was said and done, the figure left in exasperation to find more things to kill.

"Could somebody tell me in a hundred words or less what just happened?!" Amethyst yelled in frustration.

"I have no idea..." Rose said while shaking her head back and forth.

"Hey, you said it in four. That must be a new record."

"This is no time for joking around. We need to find Kai and ask if she knows anything about that figure."

With that said, the group ran to find Khaidarkanite and hopefully get some answers out of her.


	2. Chapter 2

When they finally met up with Khaidarkanite, she'd already stripped herself nude for some inexplicable reason, much to the confusion of her guests. She actually didn't mind them seeing her like this, but they weren't whom she'd shed her clothes for. Nevertheless, she welcomed them inside.

"Eck!" Pearl exclaimed in disgust. "Kai, why are you naked?"

"You mean Pyrite's not here yet?" Khaidarkanite asked back. "If he is, could you let him know what I plan to do later tonight?"

"We don't have time for that right now, Kai," Rose interjected. "We were attacked while Kitane was preparing to sacrifice that bull!"

"So?"

"It looked like another Gem, but we've never seen her before."

"I'm listening now."

"Blonde, white eyes, could shoot lightning from her hands... do you know who we might be dealing with here?"

Khaidarkanite tilted her head back and forth in confusion for a bit before finally shaking her head and answering, "Nope nope nope. Would be cool to shoot lightning out my limbs, though." She chortled at that.

"Kai, this is serious. We need to find a way to stop her before this escalates into omnicide and solving her identity could help us do that. Now tell us: do you know anything about the Gem we just encountered?"

"Well, I've already said no, but..."

"But what?"

"What you described earlier reminds me of a Cubic Zirconia I've been hearing about lately."

Rose's pupils shrank into practical nothingness. "A Cubic Zirconia?"

Khaidarkanite eagerly nodded her head. "Yeah, that must be it. I keep hearing about this Zirconia lingering around... with the chancellor of Chalcopyrite, no less. Can you even believe that? After all these nymphs he's dated and the motherfuckin' queen, now he's got this enhanced beauty of a jewel."

In an instant, Rose knew who the light blue Gem was talking about. She could hardly grasp this herself. First, he bailed out on the Earth colony and now this? However, she knew better than to blurt out her suspicions right then and there, so instead she kept quiet.

"Unbelievable." was all Garnet could muster up.

"You know where she came from?" Rose asked once more. "Tell us anything we might know."

"I dunno, actually," Khaidarkanite returned. "Maybe you can ask him back at Chalcopyrite, hmm? I bet he knows a thing or two about that figure."

**************

_Meanwhile..._

"Yaahhhhh!" someone shrieked in the Heavens above.

"Mother, what's the matter?" asked a golden chubby Gem goddess named Heliodor. "Did an overzealous atheist denounce your existence?"

The yellow-orange goddess Amber groaned while clutching her head. "No, nothing of the sort, dear," she answered in a pained monotone.

"Then what is it?" asked the shimmering white Gem goddess named Selenite. "Tell us, Mother."

Amber couldn't help but shudder at first, but then she spoke. She said, "I just now realized that someone stole one of Pumice's artifacts and is using it for their own selfish goals."

"B-but how?" both of her daughters asked at the same time.

"I don't know," lamented Amber. "But we have to do something before this situation gets out of hand! We need somebody who'll be willing to go hand-to-hand with this wicked soul, but who could we find to take this on?" She thought about this for several minutes, first going over some of the legendary Gem heroes who'd taken on some of the pantheon before eventually settling on...

"Rose Quartz!" she squeaked.

"Rose Quartz?" both her daughters asked again. "As in the Younger?"

"Yes, her!" their mother snapped. "I don't know why, but I have a feeling that her kind heart and her undying love for the humans will be enough to stop this fiend once and for all!"

"Where is she anyhow?" Selenite asked separately.

"You were expecting me to be omnipotent? We have Malachite for that. Speaking of... why don't we send him to the blue planet to find her?"

"Are you sure that'll work?"

"Was I able to give birth to four children in just two days? Then it has to work. Quickly, we must find him!"

*********************

_Back on Earth..._

"You think she came from your dimension?" Eudoxia was asking Rose.

"Well, it seems very likely," answered the pink Gem. "I don't think we've seen her around here before and if we did, we'd certainly remember."

"So why are you telling me all this?"

"I'll explain later, but let's just say that if we don't do something about this, the entire universe will be in jeopardy."

"And you know this how?"

"Garnet forecast it with a kiss."

Just as the homely Minoan priestess was about to react to that answer, a winged mammoth-sized green-irised eyeball materialized right before them and pretty quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with.

"Are you a god?" was the first thing to come out of Eudoxia's mouth, albeit in a barely-audible squeak.

"Yes, I am a god," the eyeball answered humbly. "But do you know what I'm capable of?"

"Well-" The priestess was a bit stumped.

Rose gasped as if starstruck and was quick to interrupt. "You can send hurricanes with just one flap of the wings alone, you can see as many as about a million years into the future, create devastating floods with your tears and even outmaneuver your own son Zeolite! Why, you're Malachite, the god of prophecy!"

"Very good, very good," Malachite said as calmly as he could muster up. "I knew you were the one."

"The one?" Rose couldn't help but ask. "For what exactly?"

"You're the one who will save the humans and the blue planet as a whole."

"You mean from her?"

"Exactly. Now would you like to come with me for a moment? I assure you it won't take long."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"To meet my wife, the original Venerable Goddess."


	3. Chapter 3

Rose's encounter with Malachite had given her a scintilla of cringing anxiety that, for some reason, didn't seem to make sense to her. After all, he was one of the Gods of the Pantheon (and one of the most powerful at that) so he could be trusted, right? Nevertheless, she accompanied him to the Heavenly Realms; it was there that she came face-to-face with Amber herself alongside her entire brood of children.

"Excuse me, Amber?" Rose called out to the golden-yellow goddess. "Your husband says I'm the one you need to save the world. Why is that?"

"Well, let me put it this way," Amber began. "What this Gem possesses right now is one of the most powerful corset Pumice ever created, not to mention one of the very first corsets ever. Do you have any idea what this corset can do?"

"No, nobody has told me so far."

"Then I will be the first. When Pumice first created it, they transferred almost half of their power into its very fabrics and stitches. They decreed that whoever chose to wore this garment would possess every ability imaginable, including one that could potentially change the very matrices of time and space. For many, many years, Gems from all walks of life sought control over its power but they all failed... until now."

"So what am I supposed to do now? How do you want me to stop her?"

"Moldavite will tell you, my dear."

A smoky green god came forward and approached the rose-haired Gem. He then said, "You must kill her, Rose."

"I-I'm sorry?" Rose asked while utterly confused.

"You have to kill her. I guarantee that it is the only way you can stop her."

"But why? She's wearing Pumice's corset! Can't I just find a way to remove it?"

"You can't remove it! Anybody who wears it will have it fused to their body until they can regenerate. That's why you need to kill her; not only will you save the universe, but you will also make sure nobody ever gets their hands on it again."

"Why is killing her the only solution though? I was raised to believe that all life was sacred, even life that supposedly had no meaning, and that everything had beauty. Do you really expect me to go against my principles just to make sure nobody else dies?"

None of the Gods could say anything to that.

"That's what I thought," Rose muttered solemnly. "Look, I just want to stop her without resorting to murder and that's it. Before I can do that, though, I just need to know who she is."

"Tell me what you know about her so far," Amber commanded.

"She's blonde, she has white eyes, and the last time I saw her she shot lightning from her fingertips."

"You're referring to a Cubic Zirconia."

"Exactly! But I heard that she was with Chancellor Zoisite. You think maybe he had something to do with this?"

"Perhaps you might want to ask him yourself."

"That's a wonderful idea. Just send me down at the Palace immediately and I will get right on it."

"I will gladly do that."

With that said, Amber sent the pink Gem on her way.

*****************

**Inside the Chalcopyrite palace...**

"Rose, it's so nice to see you again," Zoisite greeted her in a sickeningly-saccharine tone. "Queen Diamond tells me the Earth colony is doing well."

"She's told you correctly." Rose concurred. "However, some people there have been dying under mysterious circumstances lately."

"Hmm, that seems odd, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I don't remember lightning striking down humans when the skies were clear."

"Well, I'm sure their god's been fucking with them again. Or do they have one?"

Rose took a minute to think about it. "I'm sure they do. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a whole _pantheon_ of them."

"Sorry I asked. Anyway, I have a few grievances I'd like to address about our Queen."

"Such as?" Rose leaned in a bit, eager to know what he had to say.

"She's not reliant on me as she ought to be. I'd like our queen to be more submissive, kinda like..." Zoisite trailed off into a state of thought.

Rose stared at him for a few moments, watching him ponder over whoever he was thinking about. It took him a while, but he eventually thought of someone.

"Zirconia!" he simply exclaimed. "Yes, she should be our queen."

The gears in Rose's head began to spin now. He'd sounded so eager and confident, but what exactly did he have planned for her? Could it have been that perhaps he was conspiring to overthrow the Queen and replace her? The pink Gem had to press him on.

"I don't think I quite understand." Rose said. "Why do you want Zirconia to be Queen exactly?"

"Well, let me put it this way," he answered. "She's beautiful, obedient and totally unquestioning. In fact, I recently gave her a special corset to wear at all times."

"You mean like the one Pumice made?"

"Yes, that's the one!"

 _I knew it!_ Rose thought to herself. _Okay, stay calm. There's gotta be a way to get him to confess without coming off as overbearing._ She then said aloud, "That must've been a hard find for you. How'd you get it?"

"I can't say." Zoisite shrugged. "Only she and I are to know."

"C'mon, sir. You and my father were friends once, so it seems fair I should know too."

"Well..."

"I promise not to tell anybody else."

"Alright, well, it seemed easy enough. Pumice's Temple wasn't very far from the Zeolite Brothel and all I had to do to get this corset was use my government powers to my advantage. The only people there were a couple monks and a priestess and they were so starstruck that they let me take it." He smirked at this. "I think they were just a bit more than relieved to have it gone."

"That's all I needed to know. It was nice talking to you, sir."

"You too, Rose. You may come back anytime."


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Rose came back to Earth, she felt wild with excitement from the revelation. Despite the promise she'd made to Zoisite, she just had to tell somebody, anybody about this new information. Naturally, the first ones she decided to speak this with were Eudoxia and Khaidarkanite.

"So... let me see if I've heard you correctly, alright?" Eudoxia began. "This man decided that he wanted to overthrow his queen by giving his friend a magical article of clothing and having said friend kill her?"

"Exactly," Rose simply answered.

"How did I not know he was going to do that?" Khaidarkanite mumbled to herself. "How did I not see this coming?"

"Alright, you two," Rose began. "I have an idea on how to deal with this. First off, why don't we go ahead and tell the others about Zoisite's involvement? That way, they can warn the rest of the humans of another attack ahead of time; by the time she strikes again, we'll be ready."

"Great strategy, but there's a problem," Khaidarkanite said.

"What's that?"

"How do we convince the humans she's not a goddess?"

"Good question. We'll have to think of something."

***************

Once the Minoans, both indigenous and foreign, were informed of another attack possibly being on the way, they didn't hesitate to start stacking up on an ecletic assortment of weapons (including what looked like a flamethrower and some bronze swords and axes) nor did they waste any time while coming up with hundreds and hundreds of battle strategies (most of which were Pearl's, by the way). Each time, however, they all ended up with the same problems and the same type of questions that had yet to be answered; for example, how could hundreds and hundreds of humans and Gems combined hope to overtake another Gem who was wearing a godly artifact? Moreover, how could they fight against a being they'd once thought divine? If they were ever going to defend themselves here, then Rose Quartz would have to help out big-time.

"Come on, Pearl!" a pregnant adolescent girl, Dendera, whined. "We've gone through this plan several times already. How in the world are flaming arrowheads supposed to harm this woman?"

"Well," Pearl began. "All it'll take is a lucky shot at her gem- which I think is on her chest -and hopefully it'll knock her powers down a peg."

"Wait a minute!" Bansabira's widow, Papsukkal, cried. "You don't even know where her gem is placed?"

"The aura from the corset she was wearing obscured our vision pretty badly, so we couldn't get a good look."

"How do you expect to attack her like that then? You can't! You'll have to swing a sword at her head or something!"

"Alright, fine, that's not going to work. Anybody else have suggestions?"

Rose slowly raised her hand, almost as if she knew what she was going to say next wouldn't be pleasing.

"Okay, Rose, what's your solution?" Pearl asked.

"How about not killing her?" Rose replied.

Almost all of the humans present (except, of course, for Eudoxia) stared at her with varied looks of outrage and confusion. The Gems, however, just made slight grimaces at this answer.

"And why shouldn't we, might I ask?" Papsukkal asked suspiciously.

"Because she's not the real monster here." answered the pink-haired Gem, almost in a pleading fashion. "The friend who gave her that corset is."

"But he's not the one killing our people now, is he?"

"No, but he's got something else planned for her. He wants to use her to try and kill the current queen so she can take over and he can micromanage everything she does."

"So what's killing us got to do with it?"

"I don't know, but I think it's the corset that's driving her to kill."

"So can we remove it?"

"No. It's already fused to her. She'd only be able to remove it if she regenerated."

"So what do we do now?"

"We're still going to fight her of course, but we'll need to figure out how to defeat her without having to kill her."

******************

Today was now the big day. Countless herds of Minoans from all walks of life were standing guard at their respective homes and businesses, waiting for the one the Gems called Zirconia to emerge from out of the horizon and make her next move. They were eager to see if she was actually going to turn up or not; even more so, the Minoans were eager to get their hands on their weapons and just jump into the fray already.

"Come on, you bitch," Papsukkal seethed quietly as she looked out her window. "I know you're out there. You better hurry up because we're about to show you how the Cretans fight... yes, we'll show you firsthand!" She pounded her fist on the table as she said this.

"Is she coming now, Mother?" her daughter Rhea asked.

"Hold on now, my darling," Papsukkal assured her. "We just have to wait."

"How long?"

"I don't know, but it should be soon. I don't want all those weeks of training our bodies to their limits and refining our tools to have been for nothing, and I'm sure Pearl and Rose don't want that either."

"Ugh, for the love of Britomartis, I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

"Please don't test me, beloved daughter. I've already lost your father so far and I'm not about to lose anybody else."

"Well, it's not like things could get any worse for us."

Just as she said this, Zirconia crashed through the roof of their house and onto the floor. Rhea couldn't believe how convenient the timing was on that frightening coincidence.

"Ros Ma!" Rhea and Papsukkal cried together.

"I am Zirconia!" this significantly-powered Gem introduced herself. "Welcome to die!"


End file.
